Written and directed by Olivier Award-winner Jamie Eastlake and co-produced by Newcastle Theatre Royal, Gerry & Sewell is based on Jonathan Tulloch’s acclaimed novel The Season Ticket, which was later adapted into the cult Geordie film Purely Belter. The play follows two lads from Gateshead, Gerry and Sewell, who have nowt – except a burning desire to get their hands on a season ticket to their beloved Newcastle United. After years of living in austerity and seeing their football club shelled out by a cockney bloke who sells sports tat, life is a struggle. But, now they’ve got their mission, nowt is gonna stand in their way. Whey, apart from maybe a few radgie charvers, the social and the odd madcap scrap merchant.
Review by Stephen Gilchrist
If I said that if you know nothing about football and disclaim knowledge of the culture and dialect of the locals north of the Watford Gap, you might have some difficulty in traversing Jamie Eastlake’s adaptation of Jonathan Tulloch’s novel, The Season Ticket, you would, with some justification, call me a patronising self-satisfied Southerner- and you may be right.
As it happens, I do follow footie but still have trouble in understanding Geordie, which did cause me some problems in following the cultural references and local Tyneside patois in Gerry and Sewell.. The rest of the packed house on a glitzy Press Night seemed to have been shipped in, wholesale from the North East, whooping and hollering at every beloved local reference. It made an interesting evening.
But you want to know about the play. It’s a strange piece which is not a musical but is punctuated with an eclectic musical selection and some well staged and frenetically choreographed moves ( by Lucy Marie Curry) for the ensemble representing, hooded and balaclava’d ‘hooligans’.
This show is one of several theatre pieces (for example Standing at the Sky’s Edge) which come to the West End from local roots (in this case from the Newcastle Theatre Royal), celebrating local society, though there is little to celebrate in the poverty stricken underclass of which Gerry and Sewell are part. They are lifelong good- humoured pals, self-confessed ‘toe rags’, whose loyalty to Newcastle United, the ‘Toons’, carries them through from one day to the next as fate delivers one slap after another. Ever hopeful they embark on a mission to accrue sufficient funds to purchase season tickets for their beloved team. They are a sort of Geordie ‘Likely Lads’, and if you do not understand the reference, you’re a lot younger than me !
Their friendship and light-hearted escapades take them away from the depressing family circumstances from which they come. Gerry has a drunken, loutish and bullying father, a depressed and frequently unwell mother, and sisters whose only desire is to leave Tyneside. And looking at the stage setting which illustrates the environment in which they live, who can blame them! The design by Richard, Rosie and Joe Power would not go amiss in Samuel Beckett’s iconic play ‘Endgame’ in which the characters live in dustbins in a post-apocalyptic world. It is however an effective set for the story being told. There is also a nice effect of a moving Newcastle Metro train.
There is comedy and drama, hope and hopelessness, and above all friendship and the bonding of the titular characters. Dean Logan as Gerry, and Jack Robertson as his somewhat dumber friend Sewell are both terrific. There is a real chemistry between these two and they engender love from the audience as they struggle in their chaotic day to day lives.
In the writing there is warmth and anger, not to say filthy language. The supporting cast display an authenticity that even I could follow over the language difficulties absent an interpreter. I particularly enjoyed Bill Fellows as Gerry’s dad, really the only villain in the piece as well as Erin Mullen as mum.
This is a large handsomely cast show, 31 performers at last count, which clearly shows some commercial optimism on the part of the producers for what is essentially a play and not a musical.
Eastlake is also the director and moves the show along at a rate, helped by the movement director. There is some rather endearing puppetry (design by Georgia Hill, and operated by Rusty Hill) of a stray hound adopted by Gerry and Sewell as they roam the bleak streets of their hometown.
I think this may be a difficult piece for a London audience to appreciate but stick with it! It offers a story of good humour and hope in a life where a roll of the dice inevitably comes up ‘snake eyes’. Well worth a visit.
Photo credit: Meg Jepson
Gerry & Sewell
Tuesday 13th January – Sunday 24th January 2026
Aldwych Theatre, London WC2B 4DF
Box Office Tickets are available priced from £10 to £80 and available from
https://ticketing.nederlander.co.uk/tickets/series/GERRYANDSEWELL
Director Jamie Eastlake @jamieeastlake
Associate Director Rosie Bowden @rosiebrosieb
Movement Director Lucy Curry @lucymariecurry
Musical Director Declan Flannery @declanflannerymusic
Set Design Richard Power, Rosie Power and Joe Power
Composer Aidan Tulloch @aidantulloch
Puppet Design and Maker Georgia Hill @daftgee
General Manager Alex Turner
Producer Eastlake Productions & Newcastle Theatre Royal
Running Time 2 hours including interval
Social Media @eastlakeproductions